Delay gas procurement until policy reflects big cost and emission shifts – study

Before moving ahead with the procurement of gas-fired generation, South Africa should update both its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity and its Gas Master Plan to reflect prevailing renewables and battery costs, as well as the country’s carbon constraints, a new Meridian Economics study argues. Titled ‘Hot Air About Gas: An Economic Analysis of the Scope and Role for Gas-Fired Power Generation in South Africa’, the study warns that the current policy approach of anchoring gas demand in the domestic electricity sector is premised on outdated cost and emission assumptions.